Think Pink

Laney celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday and it was pink, flowery and sparkly and she loved it. We have a tradition of decorating after the birthday child goes to sleep so he/she wakes to balloons, streamers and banners. We of course did the same for Laney and this year it was a sea of pink. When she walked down the stairs yesterday morning I could hear her jumping up and down saying "yeah, yeah, yeah". She had a great day with some play time at an indoor playground, lunch out, a bath with a new ballerina Barbie, and an evening with family, food, cake and presents.

One of the best parts of the evening was watching the boys try to help Laney with her new princess accessories. At one point, they were discussing what to do with something they hadn't seen before - a pair of clip-on earrings. Spencer thought they might slip into her hair and Owen thought maybe they clipped onto her clothes. With a little help they made sure she was all decked out.

This year Laney had a few less presents to open because she took it upon herself to open the box of gifts sent by her Grandma Nette, Pops and Aunt Anna while I was in the shower Thursday. I got out of the shower and she excitedly came running over and said, "look at my new Pony!" I knew exactly what she had done, but hoped she hadn't opened Spencer's too. She had and the little rascal had even thrown the paper away.

I must admit the new pony did come in handy when I was working on her cake. She was trying to "help", so I suggested she have a pony party. She ran upstairs, collected her other ponies, came downstairs, lined them up and like a little girl with two older brothers said, "Ponies, start your engines!".

I finished her cake with no time to spare, but only after another disaster. Laney selected a Barbie cake for the birthday cake after falling in love with the ones she had seen at the grocery store. I baked the sour cream chocolate cake Thursday and in the evening I tried to put the barbie in the middle and, not having been a Barbie kind of girl, I had no idea Barbie had hips. When I tried to push her into the cake her hips split my top layer and sent me to "time out" once again. It was back to the mixer again and, no, I didn't throw this one. Fortunately I had bought a special Wilton doll just in case. The second doll worked perfectly and the cake was just what she wanted - pink, flowery and sparkly thanks to a little shimmer dust.

I am thankful I only have one more cake to go and I'm hoping that the third time is a charm and not three strikes and I'm out.